HealthyExplorer.Com

There's a jungle of health information on the Internet--some of which could make you sick. Here's how to search safely.

WILL COBURN WOKE UP one morning and discovered one side of his face had become paralyzed. He called his sister, a registered nurse, and described his symptoms. She said she thought he might have Bell's Palsy, a type of facial paralysis.

Wanting more information, Coburn researched Bell's Palsy on the Internet. He concluded his problem was inconvenient but harmless and waited three days before scheduling an appointment with his doctor. What he didn't find out while cruising the Net is that 27 different conditions have the same symptoms as Bell's Palsy and many of them can be fatal if not treated immediately.

Fortunately, nothing serious happened Coburn, as his hunch about Bell's was correct. The incomplete information he'd found on the Internet, however, him a Use sense of security that co have put him in grave danger.

When used correctly, the Internet can be an incredible resource. With the click of a mouse you can access a global library of up-to-date health information from top experts and journals. However, the danger of the In net is the temptation to self-diagnose and self-medicate (like Coburn when it would be best to consult a professional.

Fortunately there are ways to benefit from what's good about the Inter while protecting yourself against what's bad. Here's our advice on how to conduct a safe and savvy search.

Getting Started

What not to do: Logging onto a search engine or directory (see "Glossary of Internet Terms") to do a key word search may seem like the obvious starting point, but it's not always the best. Search engines frequently lead to wild--although sometimes amusing--Web chases. For example, searching for "allergies" on the directory Alta Vista brings up a list of 166,550 possible Sites. If you narrow the search to "food allergies," 7,077 sites appear. Click on a few of these and you'll find many don't exist while others contain worthless or dubious information. There is a better way.

What to do: Start your search at a specific, well-known, health-related site. Tracking down the addresses for reputable sites can take some time and research. We've done a lot of the legwork for you by tracking down nine great sites. (See "Our Favorite Sites".) Internet research libraries, such as The Argus Clearinghouse (www.clearinghouse.net), can also provide addresses for reputable sites. (There's a trick to finding alternative health information at this site. On the opening page, click on "Health & Medicine." Then on the next page, click on "general health." On the next page you can choose between "healing" and "holistic health.") And because good sites are usually linked to other good sites, when you find a reliable web site, be sum to note any listed links. (For information on how to open links, see "Glossary of Internet Terms".)

One of the best ways to do health research on the Internet is by reading online medical journals. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine (www.healthonline.com/scripts/pagersv.exe? ALTTHER), Journal of the American Medical Association (www.ama-assn.org), and the New England Journal of Medicine (www.nejm.com) now publish versions of their publications online. These and other journals can be found at Medline, an Internet database of more than 9 million references in 3,800 biomedical journals. You can access Medline through PubMed (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed), or Internet Grateful Med (igm.nlm.nih.gov).

Judging a Web Site

While there is no clear-cut way to be sure that a site is reputable and reliable, here are five things to look for:

1.) Check the Sponsor. Often you can determine who sponsored a site by looking at the suffix of the web address. For instance, sites that end in ".com" are commercial; sites that end in ".org" are nonprofit organizations: sites that end in ".edu" are educational institutions, and sites that end with ".gov" are government agencies. While commercial sites can contain good information, they are not always the most trustworthy sources, especially if they are selling something. Established medical organizations (such as the American Cancer Society), educational institutions, and government agencies are generally better sources of objective information and research findings. (Note: While medical organizations and government sites dispense mostly conventional medical news, the studies they report often contain helpful, rigorously documented information on specific conditions. And more and more often, they report the results of studies of alternative therapies.)

2.) Check the Description of the Site. Look at the information describing the site (often called "about this site") to get a better idea of the site's objectives and agenda. Look to see if the site is updated regularly. Does the site have an advisory boar& Some medical sites adhere to specific guidelines to help ensure that their site contains only sound advice. One such site, Webdoctor (www./gretmar.com/webdoctor), has all information peer-reviewed by a panel of physicians before it is posted.